The Lake, The Dance and The Bet
by PrioritiesSorted
Summary: Sirius naturally expected everyone to want him, so they did. Unfortunately, that included his fellow Marauder, who shook his head and focused his gaze elsewhere, regretting it immediately.


_**A/N - WARNING: EXTREMELY FLUFFY. I don't even know where this came from, quite honestly. **_

__**_Disclaimer: JKR would never have written anything this purely fluffy. _**

It was afternoons like this one that made the rest of the world seem to melt away, when the sun was shining and most of the students of Hogwarts had converged around the Lake, soaking in the rare Scottish sunlight or relaxing in the dappled shade of the trees that fringed the Lake edge.

Remus had opted for the latter, while James, Sirius and Peter skimmed stones on the mirrored surface of the Lake. Any other day of the month, Remus would most likely have joined them, but the full moon had only just disappeared, leaving him weak but contented as he watched James hoist Sirius into the air and drop him unceremoniously into the shallow water. Skipping stones was soon forgotten as the three boys pushed each other about in the water, but as it began to soak through their shirts, they abandoned their fight and waded back to the sun drenched shore.

Briefly, Remus pondered how it was that Sirius managed to look so beautiful, graceful, as he hauled himself out of the water and collapsed onto the grass next to him. It was something about confidence, he thought; Sirius naturally expected everyone to want him, so they did. Unfortunately, that included his fellow Marauder, who shook his head and focused his gaze elsewhere, regretting it immediately. Most of the girls at the Lake edge were staring unashamedly at Sirius and James, who exchanged a triumphant grin.

Again, Remus shook his head, pulling some flowers from the branches above him with unnecessary force, and tearing them to pieces in his hands.

"Lighten up, Moony! You'll be back to full health tomorrow – and it's a Hogsmeade weekend." Sirius said, and Remus tried to smile.

"What's wrong with Moony?" James enquired, twisting a daisy in his fingers.

Remus tried to protest, but Sirius was not in the mood to listen,

"He's sulking because his Furry Little Problem is preventing him from frolicking with us - understandably, of course." He explained, picking the pondweed out of his hair and flicking it towards some Slytherins at the Lake edge.

"Well then, we're going to have to cheer him up, aren't we?" James grinned, springing from his seat on the grassy bank and nonchalantly flicking his wand, causing music to reverberate through the air and earning him a ripple of applause from those sitting close by.

"My darling Wormy, may I have this dance?" He said seriously, offering his hand to Peter, who blushed, grinned, and allowed James to pull him up.  
After a flowery bow on James's part, and a mock-curtsey from Peter, the pair began a slow, stiff-backed waltz around the Lake edge, earning them wolf-whistles, cat calls and rapturous applause from their fellow students.

Remus could remain sullen no longer and burst out laughing; soon he was holding his side where his ribs had begun to ache, wiping a tear from his eye as James lifted Peter into the air and spun him around. Sirius was laughing too, his distinctive bark ringing through the Hogwarts grounds. When the pair had eventually calmed down, Sirius stood up.

"Would you do me the honour, Moony?"

"It would be my pleasure, Padfoot." Remus smiled, unable to resist the lopsided grin that Sirius was so adept at. For the second time that afternoon, Remus immediately regretted his actions as Sirius pulled him off the ground and against his chest.

"Ugh!" Remus exclaimed, "You're soaking!"

"It's an unfortunate side effect of being dropped in a Lake, Remus dear." Sirius told him, snaking his arm around his friend's waist and pulling him close.

Remus felt his heart rate quicken, and he was sure that they looked very different from James and Peter, who were now fox-trotting enthusiastically around a group of Hufflepuff third years.

"Why do I have to be the woman?" he complained, as Sirius placed Remus's hand on his shoulder.

"Because I'm taller," Sirius replied immediately, "and much more macho than you."

"Says the man who spends more time looking at his hair than any woman I've ever met," Remus pointed out, but Sirius only grinned back at him,

"And how might you know that if you yourself didn't spend a great deal of time looking at me?" he teased, and Remus's breath hitched in his throat. He was sure that Sirius could feel his heartbeat, but he tried with great effort to appear nonchalant. It was difficult, though, when Sirius insisted on invading his personal space in this manner. Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered his mother saying something about waltzing; that partners ought to stand very straight, and not let each others' bodies touch. If that was true, this was a sorry excuse for a waltz, as Sirius was so close to him that Remus could feel his breath on his cheek.

"Good grief, Sirius, people will talk." He said eventually, forcing a little smile to his lips. He knew Sirius was looking at him, but couldn't bring himself to meet his best friend's eye, afraid he would betray himself, if he hadn't already.

The last thing he expected was for Sirius to lean closer, and whisper into Remus's ear,

"So let them."

Remus inhaled sharply and his heart hammered violently in his chest as he raised his eyes to meet Sirius's, close enough to count his eyelashes just for a second, before Sirius closed the gap between them and pressed his lips tenderly against his friend's.

He didn't know what to do, he was paralysed, panicking, but as Sirius gently bit on his bottom lip, Remus gave up thinking. His hands were in Sirius's hair, pulling him closer, tasting the pumpkin juice on his breath and feeling Sirius's own heartbeat pounding against his chest.

Only when they remembered how important oxygen was did they realise that the music had stopped, and the rest of the school was gaping at them.

"Oh, Merlin." Remus muttered, burying his face in Sirius's chest as James began to applaud and, as they were wont to do, the rest of their house followed suit.

That evening, Remus and Sirius entered the Great Hall to a cacophony of whispers. Remus hadn't known, until that point, that whispering could be so _loud_. Despite his careful attempts to remain anonymous during his time at Hogwarts, Remus's friends would never let him be. When he complained about it, James blamed Sirius and Sirius blamed James, but this time it was _definitely _Sirius's fault. Almost as if he sensed Remus's discomfort, Sirius took his hand, and the whispers became even louder.

"Just ignore it." Sirius muttered, squeezing Remus's hand as they sat down at the Gryffindor Table. Almost as soon as they had begun to eat, a paper bird landed on the table before them, and opened out into a note,

_So, do you want to tell Walburga you're shagging a half-blood boy or shall I? _

"Bellatrix." Sirius growled, crumpling the note and throwing it unceremoniously to the floor. He sat, seething, for a while before a grin started to spread across his face and he stood, tapping his fork on his glass. Remus's heart was in his mouth, because Sirius was about to do something stupid.

"Settle down, settle down. Thank you. Ladies and Gentleman of Hogwarts, I, Sirius Black, Marauder and heartthrob, am in love. His name is Remus, and he is beautiful. If some member of my family wishes to pass this information on to my dear mother, they should feel free, on the one condition that they photograph the resulting facial expression. That will be all for this evening. Thank you."

Sirius dumped himself back in his seat and kissed Remus on the cheek. The uproar that followed lasted only a few moments before the Headmaster himself stood to address the school.

"Thank you, Mister Black. For once, your dinner-time proclamation has been both enlightening and instructing. I think we all ought to take a leaf out of Sirius's book, and be proud of who were are and those we love. Incidentally," he continued, a twinkle in his piercing blue eyes, "I believe Professor McGonagall owes me ten Galleons."

**_A/N - I'm not even sure I can bring myself to beg for reviews. But I do love them. _**


End file.
